If I had to think back to a time when she taught me anything, it would be the importance of self; autonomy. Not everyone is nice, not everyone will help you. I learned all this from her and more. I had just turned eighteen on May 14, 2015, when I began to recognize that my mother was not who she said she was. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay My 18th birthday was spent sharing with “family”, I didn’t know it. Who claimed to love and support me. It was a lie on their part. It was also a lie to my mother who was blind to recognize her only child and how hurt I was. I was hurt because I saw her evolve into this hideous woman that I no longer knew. In two years, from fifteen to seventeen, I could say that I knew more about this woman I used to call “mom”. I watched her cheat on a man she was married to for eleven years, then divorce him. She left shortly after voluntarily and took me with her. I moved from house to house, from place to place, with people I didn't know. I waited for her to appear, but she was always gone. Days, weeks, sometimes months, all for the men she claimed to love. Finally, I saw her drink, when “the only man she loved” was sent to prison as a sex offender. She didn't care about me. She did a great job showing me proof. Slowly, she smashed her nose into the white powder that all her new friends loved. How could someone I know as “Mom” become someone like this. I'm just a girl who's afraid of living in this world. I'm a little more outspoken than others, but I live life and understand what shouldn't be understood at my age. Life never really makes sense to me, but once I know, I have all the courage to open my mind and soul in almost everything I do. Then I can become this beautiful creature who lives not only to protect myself, but to protect others, with souls who longed to have it all. All the love, all the blood, all the hope, all the faith that I or they could ever receive and discover. My mother not only taught me not to trust those who claim to love me, but also that autonomy; self-importance is the key in life. Who will be there for you when no one else is? Who will pick you up when everyone lets you know they can't? It was a handful of women, claiming to love me, and at one point in my life, I know it was true. She has since made it known that after five years, she has not changed. I forgive him for not being there, for leaving me. Leaving me without food, without water, without warmth, for leaving me in danger and injured. For making me feel like a beaten dog on the side of the road. For putting men before me and letting those men do what they wanted. For making me feel that when I needed her, she would always be there. To this day I forgive him, but I will never forget everything that happened. Every never-before-seen memory that many never know or could imagine. How did she show you these characteristics? I don't believe my mother showed me the characteristics directly, as she was a vague woman who liked to show no emotion. But indirectly, she proved that I should be someone I was supposed to be. I believe that everything happened for a reason and that each time you have the choice to make yourself into the person you.